Voice Matters Blog

Trade Tips: Transparency Brings Trust By Nicole Hayes When will they learn? Hermain Cain’s presidential campaign is undergoing “damage control” and communications crisis as he issued statements this week to address allegations of sexual harassment toward two female employees when he headed the National Restaurant Association... Read More

Great job Nicole!!... Read More

Local rapper Head-Roc has a message for Walmart Diversity: Keeping DC Walmart Free   By: Tamara Braunstein   Local rapper Head-Roc released a new track last week calling out the social justice issues of allowing Walmart to infiltrate some notoriously impoverished neighborhoods in DC.   The video, produced by Empower DC, is shot in black and white... Read More

  By Shannon Mouton The 99% are frustrated, fed-up and downright angry. They are angry for several reasons, We are the 99 percent. We are getting kicked out of our homes. We are forced to choose between groceries and rent. We are denied quality medical care. We are suffering from environmental pollution. We are... Read More

Video: RWJF President Risa Lavizzo-Mourey Accepts 2011 APHA Presidential Citation   By: Ryan Duncan   Risa Lavizzo-Mourey, MD, MBA, President and CEO of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) joined the ranks of Nelson Mandela, the National Association of Community Health Centers, the National WIC Association and families of public health workers everywhere as... Read More

We are the 90%By: Llenda Jackson-LeslieWe’ve all heard of the 99%. Most of us are in the 99%-- in New York there’s also the 90% that’s the percentage of New Yorkers who are stopped for no good reason whatsoever and are innocent of any crime or suspected criminal act or... Read More

Media Monday: Are You Ready? By Nicole Hayes This Monday was a media feast as cable news networks had “breaking news” segments seemingly every hour. At least three major news stories had viewers glued: 1-  A fourth woman named in the Herman Cain sexual harassment scandal... Read More

Social Justice: How Did This Happen? By Shannon Mouton   Last month, the DNC announced the hiring of "Greg Hinton as its first-ever Chief Diversity Officer."   Really? The Democratic Party needs a Chief Diversity Officer? Really? Does anyone else see the irony in this?   I don't get it. The Democratic Party is the party of... Read More

Real PR Power   By: Gwen McKinney   The art of winning friends and influencing people. That’s how public relations pioneer Ofield Dukes sums up the profession. This is a man who has easily cleared more paths to progress in his long and storied career than an army of public relations professionals could attempt in their... Read More

Diversity: Segregation IS Natural By Shannon Mouton  segregate (v): to separate or set apart from others or from the main body or group; isolate It is time to be really real with each other...we are more comfortable with our own kind, and it is okay. It is natural. Look at nature, lions roam the plains with... Read More

A Protest Song For Occupy Wall StreetPerformed last night to an audience that included President Obama. From the Honolulu Star-Advertiser: Slack-key celebrity Makana used his performance at an APEC dinner last night at the Hale Koa Hotel as an opportunity to get his pro-Occupy Wall Street movement views out to... Read More

Breathe & Delegate By Nicole Hayes We’re entering the time of year when holiday parties, gatherings with out of town family and friends, and lengthy “to-do” lists will have us scurrying to and fro, hopefully without injury. Meanwhile, we diligently strive to finish all work assignments, post to... Read More

Rolling Out The Welcome MatBy Shannon MoutonWow, this is a big world with 193 countries and 7 billion people speaking 6,500 languages. Think of it, immigrants from the around the world come here, the United States of America. We should be humbled, with our widely known and often discussed history of slavery, discrimination, intolerance... Read More

Spying on Americans - Where Do We Draw The Line?By: Ryan DuncanIn New York, the Handschu rules place limits on surveillance. In the wake of Sept. 11, 2001, a judge loosened the law, technically allowing police to infiltrate any group. The namesake of the Handschu rules says it shouldn't be... Read More

Video: Disparities in Media Coverage for Occupy Wallstreet MovementBy: Ryan DuncanThe Occupy Wall Street movement has been going on for months now and this week, we began to see a crack down on many of the Occupy Wall Street camps across the country. From Zuccotti Park, to... Read More

Never Ending Crime and PunishmentBy Llenda Jackson-Leslie One of the harshest realities of our criminal justice system is that punishment can be never ending. Walking through the prison gates doesn’t guarantee a fresh start. The lingering stigma of a previous conviction continues to haunt many former prisoners and often... Read More

From 1917 to 2011... Look How Far We've ComeBy Shannon MoutonSuffragists being arrested (c) 1917Greenboro Sit-in 1963Civil Rights marchers hosed 1963 (video)Kent State student protesters 1970UC, Davis protesters 2011 (video)When will it end?... Read More

Happy Thanksgiving!McKinney & Associates would like to wish everyone a very Happy Thanksgiving holiday, and if you're traveling, please be safe! Comm in The Storm will be suspended for Thursday and Friday and will return next Monday the 28th.  Best Wishes!... Read More

Trade Tips: But I Thought You Said…By: Nicole HayesWe’ve all been there. Someone gives us an instruction and we neglect to truly listen, fully understand, ask questions and write it down. We return to our desk to carry out the task thinking we heard one thing and inevitably learn we... Read More